PPMA Preview

This month’s PPMA Show should once again demonstrate the increasing convergence between processing and packaging within much of the process industries.

‘The integration of packaging and processing disciplines is increasingly important to buyers of packaging and processing machinery.’ That was one of the major conclusions drawn from a survey carried out before last year’s TOTAL Processing & Packaging exhibition.

It’s a theme that continues not merely to repeat but to develop as time goes on and is again clearly evident in the exhibits and activities planned for the PPMA show, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham on 27-29 September.

In fact, this year’s PPMA show will highlight the total processing/packaging mix, including design and print, raw materials handling and storage, weighing, measuring and inspecting, as well as the final packaging and assembly machinery and equipment. The exhibitor list underlines the gradual convergence of the processing/packaging disciplines and is also clearly reflected by the anticipated visitor profile.

According to the PPMA (the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association), many of the executives who intend to visit the show already combine responsibilities for some elements of both packaging and processing. While around 19% of potential visitors cite packaging as their principal interest and 13% do the same for processing, getting on for 47% have responsibility for both disciplines. At the last PPMA Show, the figure for combined responsibility was 35%, so the rate at which this trend is accelerating is quite significant.

Job titles also underline the same combining of functions with roles such as R&D manager, Technical Director, Research Engineers and Process Improvement Manager prominent among the titles listed.

Continuing the convergence theme, the Research Village feature at this year’s show will showcase no fewer than 12 projects. With titles such as ‘The influence of process method on food flavour’ and ‘Optimising in-place cleaning’, many of the high-tech projects look at the processing/packaging interface on a holistic basis.

Many of the ideas and concepts on display at the show originate from different departments of Bath University, either in collaboration with other universities such as Nottingham or with large industrial organisations. Although some of the issues they address are peculiar to processing and packaging many relate to manufacturing industry at large.

Bath University Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (IMRC) states its purpose as ‘world-leading research into the design and manufacture of machines, systems and processes’. The theme of its exhibit is process modelling; the development of novel processes and manufacturing systems research. This research has already has led to improvements in changeover and assembly system performance and the creation of new forming processes.

Change is about the only thing we can count on in the modern industrial world. It is also one of the major themes of the exhibits in the Research Village. One, called COFFEE (Capability OF Food Equipment to handle product variation), examines the food processing industry’s ability to cope with rapid and frequent product variations.

Stated briefly, the objective of the DEFRA-funded project is to arrive at a methodology that enables engineers to determine whether existing plant and equipment can handle new variations of a product, whether it would be more efficient to replace it with new plant, or whether it would be easiest and most effective to change the nature and characteristics of the product itself.

‘Design for changeover’ is the title of another project which is relevant to both processing and packaging sectors and which, to a degree, complements the Coffee project in terms of its theme — responding to change. The project’s objective is to develop a methodology that enables original equipment manufacturers to incorporate rapid changeover capabilities from the machinery design stage.

Another commercial off-shoot from Bath’s innovative engineering faculty —– Adiuri Systems — will be demonstrating a machinery maintenance system called EZEE, which it developed in conjunction with the PPMA and two manufacturing companies.

According to Adiuri its domain centric, faceted classification, search and navigation application, Waypoint, is transforming the way users find information. Through increased speed, efficiency and accuracy of access, users are solving many of the problems of information overload and eliminating unnecessary re-work and poor productivity.

The project, carried out with the PPMA and two industrial partners, created a Waypoint based system for machinery maintenance information and demonstrated how to retrieve a wide variety of maintenance data through a single interface, irrespective of its format, type or location, and organise it in such a way as to best suit the user.

Effective maintenance is vital to productivity and product quality and so, increasingly, is efficient cleaning. These days, that means cleaning-in-place and that is the theme of another principal exhibit in the Research Village. Staged by the department of chemical engineering at Bath University, the display encompasses the whole cycle of cleaning and hygiene from the optimum design of plant to the correct cleaning methodology and formulations.

Like many of the exhibits at the exhibition, this particular technology is applicable right across the spectrum of processing and packaging, demonstrating, once again, that the boundaries between the two disciplines continue to converge.

Process equipment plays its part

Many process-related exhibits at the PPMA Show will be from manufacturers well used to having ‘a foot in both camps’, but there are as many out-and-out process equipment manufacturers taking advantage of the opportunity to address a wider market.

Silverson Machines for example is showing its new ‘Sauce Plant’, suitable for pilot and small-scale production of sauces including mayonnaise for the ready-to-use market. With a batch size of 100-200 litres, the unit (pictured left, top) meets the need for a simple and reliable plant that overcomes the problems associated with manual production.

On the Lindor stand, in association with its sole UK agent Orthos Engineering, the company will have a working model of its 10 litre ‘gentle-touch’ blender, along with its larger 750 litre mixer. The smaller table-top machine has the same internal blending drum design as full-size Lindor machines of up to 25 000 litres, giving mixing results that can be extrapolated and applied to larger units. The horizontally-mounted rotating drum design has no separate moving parts, such as mixing blades and impellers that can apply shear forces to a product and cause degradation. Blending is achieved instead by tapered scoops that are an integral part of the inner surface of the drum.

A similar ‘no moving parts’ approach can be seen in the rotary drum blender, to be featured by John R Boone. Working closely with industry, the company has developed turnkey mixing and blending systems to add powdered and liquid ingredients with minimum, clean down when changing recipes. One such system, supplied to a producer of specialty teas, features the drum blender. Each rotation of the drum, which has a fixed internal baffle arrangement, lifts and fluidises the product to produce a large surface area to spray on to.

For its part, Multiplicity is exhibiting an Auriol pressure vessel for processing all types of food product, cooking at one bar pressure internally. The vessel can be electrically self-steam generating for use in areas where a steam supply is not available.

Making the most of its 60m2 stand, Planet Flowline is displaying a range of machinery that illustrates its capabilities in the supply of equipment both for individual applications and for complete lines in the food, drink, snack food, ready meal and PET bottle manufacturing industries.

Quite literally linking the processing and packaging functions in many cases, materials handling and conveying equipment and systems have always been a feature of the PPMA Show and this year is no exception.

Spiroflow, for example, is showing its new range of Rhinoveyor flexible screw conveyors for abrasive materials. Abrasion resistant conveying tubes now extend the scope of the company’s flexible screw conveyors into these applications. Spiroflow is putting much emphasis on containment and compliance with the ATEX Directive, prominent features of its ranges of conveyors, bulk bag (FIBC) filling machines and bulk bag dischargers.

Also at the show is Flexicon’s revolutionary Swing-Down bulk bag filler. It has a pivot-down fill head that enables the operator to connect empty bags at floor level and rapidly resume filling operations, eliminating the need to climb steps, strain to reach overhead connection points or any of the other risks associated with conventional bulk bag fillers.

According to Arodo, the packaging industry has for years been searching for a means to densify and pack powders into hermetically closed bags without perforations. Its new, patent pending, Arovac vacuum bagging system is claimed to solve this by using a two-stage vacuum process. Product packed in this way can be stored outside without need of additional protective packaging, while the absence of air in the product can substantially increase the shelf-life of the product. The Arovac is designed specifically for two main powder groups — cement and cement mixtures, with bagging speeds of up to 1000 per hour, and general powders and food ingredients at up to 600 bags per hour.

Astec Conveyors will have a working conveying system, including driven roller accumulation conveyors, a side-grip elevator and vertical spiral conveyor, providing versatile and smooth transfer of product between different floor levels. An on-line vision system will also be demonstrated to identify untaped cases. This unit can be integrated into any end-of-line automated system to maintain quality and increase efficiency.

The eponymous Conveyor Systems is exhibiting a range of conveyors, including the innovative spiral elevator, and also demonstrating its ‘handling solution’ capabilities. The company’s versatile spiral conveyor can be operated in reverse and can handle various sizes and types of pro ducts at the same time. It can also be used to provide accumulation and buffer storage, playing an important role in an integrated conveying system.

The vacuum technology company PIAB is showing its new range of vacuum conveyors, the IC33 series. There are three versions, all based on a new patented pump technology. The conveyor’s compact design frees up floor space that would otherwise have been occupied by belt or screw conveyors. As the material is conveyed in pipes or hoses, this solution is also more flexible, according to PIAB. The three versions handle anything from 500 to 2000kg per hour, depending on conveying distance and the material characteristics.

A company whose products are to be found on a great deal of processing and packaging machinery is Festo. This year it is launching an innovative single-axis electrical positioning system, primarily intended for handling applications. The system is easy to integrate and provides a highly cost-effective, ready-to-run solution for precision positioning applications. Visitors should have no trouble finding the Festo stand. Just inside the entrance to Hall 9, they will be welcomed by an animatronic, fluidic-muscle activated, character that should point them in the right direction.

Filtration specialist Russell Finex is introducing the new Compact Airlock Sieve. This is said to add a new dimension to screening technology for the pharmaceutical industry. With its validatable pneumatic clamping system, the sieve offers large improvements in product containment and operator health and safety. The unit also complies with ATEX legislation.

For the first time at PPMA, Guttridge Services is showing its Virolat non-binding vibratory sieve separator, said to use a well-known phenomenon to improve sieve performance by astonishing margins. The company has set up a new test centre at its Spalding, Lincolnshire, headquarters to provide comprehensive product trial and demonstration facilities.

Quality assured

Whether at the raw material intake or at the end of the process or packaging lines, quality checking is vital. Ytron-Quadro, for example, is introducing the Labocontrole sampling systems at the PPMA show. Part of the range, the PowControl sampling device is based on the Archimedes screw principle, powered by an air motor, and allows representative sampling from satic product in hoppers and free-falling product in process chutes.

Metal detection systems are also well represented at the NEC. Mettler-Toledo Safeline is launching its Safeline R Series Profile detectors, which feature a multifrequency detection coil system and failsafe condition monitoring technology. The units also have Ethernet communications, real time histogram displays of product data and a ‘change-free running’ mode that makes operation simple.

Cintex is demonstrating its full range of inspection systems, including the Sentry VF metal detector, said to be the only detector with true variable frequency capabilities. In addition, the Sentry CodeScan barcode and code verification system will be highlighted as a critical tool for complete traceability.

Detection of a different kind can be seen on Witt Gas Techniques stand. It is showing its new Leak-Master, micro-leak detection systems. Based on CO2 detection technology, these are used for finding leaks in individual flexible and rigid food and pharmaceutical packaging systems.

Vision systems are increasingly playing an important role in quality assurance. Radix Systems is launching the Autosort MC-D72, which offers double-sided inspection to detect defects that can be seen on one side of the product only.

Of course, one way to ensure contamination-free processing is to make sure all equipment is clean. Grote will show how this can be achieved using its Ozone Sanitation System Minicart. The system can be used in many areas of food processing, killing bacteria must faster than chlorine.